SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

“RICKSHAWPULLER” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #69

Vinodini was reading the newspaper which highlighted a news item. A teaseller’s girl had cracked and got through Punjab Civil Services examination with hi-fi ranks. Vinodini was not so greatly impressed by that news. She thought it was somewhat degrading the values of girls’ ability as if girls could not achieve anything substantial. What was the need for a small victory of a girl to be unduly glorified as though she had moved mountains? A girl passing out in Civil Services was not something unusual. She thought of herself. “So, what! Even I...

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“HELLO SATURN” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #68

Rohini and Praveen were still seated in their seats and were waiting for others to clear the way. The aeroplane had just come to a final stop. People were busy taking out their hand luggage from cabin rack. A long strenuous journey was telling on them. In a few more minutes they would be in their new home. From the window Praveen peeped out and showed his mother the broad bright sky. It was Sunrise. A new dawn! A new country, a new land, new people around, a new environment, a new language, a new job, a new boss …. Rohini was carried aw...

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“LAKSHMI POOJA” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Lokan was browsing his facebook account. He accidentally came across a piece of information advising the users to be beware of ten different ways of hacking while using the ATM machine. It caught his attention and out of curiosity, he went through the site and collected all information. He was wondering how people dared to lay hand on others bank account and silently wash away their balances completely. His inner mind was debating who was more intelligent --- the one who devised a hassle-free mechanism to withdraw cash from ATM or the one wh...

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“ROMANTIC COUPLE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #67

“Hello Darling! The swimming pool is calling us. Come on Let us go.” Raman gave a call to Vinaya. She too responded. “Yes, my dear. Just a minute.” She was out there with her swimming costume and accessories, like headcap, eyewear glasses, change of dresses and minimum make-up kits all tucked in a bag. She joined him, clenching his fingers into hers. There was a small sprint in her stylish steps showing off her ecstatic mood. Raman too had his bag filled with his requirements. At the swimming pool there were some easy cosy reclining chairs ...

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“STRUGGLE AHEAD MARCH ON,,, MARCH ON...” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #66

Rohini with her son Praveen was waiting to cross the road. A long procession was going on. The leading man with a megaphone on his mouth, was shouting slogans of ‘Struggle Ahead. March on. March on’. The followers behind him endorsed the leader by repeating the words ‘March on – March on’. Praveen was quite amused by their slogan shouting. More than that he was very much impressed by their white and white dress code. All of them were in white dhoti and white shirt, popularly known as ‘Vetti-Chattai.’ He had a great fascination for white dres...

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“GRAVEYARD AND DEVILS” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #65

Both Muthukaruppan and Munisamy came to the burial ground. They were stunned to see that wreaths, garlands and flowers were strewn around on the spot. They had earlier fixed the spot for hiding their stolen article. In fact, they had dug a small pit and buried their valuable stuff underneath. But what they found now was that the very same spot was used by somebody who had buried their dead relative. The flowers and garlands bore testimony for that. Before the dead body could be lowered, the burial ground must have been prepared. At that time...

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“RAJANIKANT” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #64

Murugesan was surprised to see a photo of a plain clothed person in the pooja room adorned with garland and vermillion dots. He asked Mohini. He already knew who he was. But what made him to be in the special puja room was only a matter of suspense. “Oh! Uncle he is Rajneesh. We hold him in high esteem. He happened to save our lives and also helped us in getting married. He is not alive. Otherwise we will be falling at his feet daily.” “Strange. I found his photo adorned in Ramani’s house also. They also glorified him to a status of a godma...

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“COME BACK SOON” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #63

Chinnappa’s neighbour had come to the station to see him off. As the train chugged off from the small town of Kudappah, he bade good bye and said, “Okay. See you then. Keep in touch. Best wishes as always.”  Chinnappa was very sad in leaving his village. He was migrating to Pune, a bigger city for better prospects. Failure of monsoon coupled with depleting ground water, rising costs of farming, and the mounting debts … all led to widespread starvation and suicides in the village. Many peasants had abandoned their lands and migrated to ...

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“SWIM OR SINK YOUR CHOICE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #62

Shreyas was very happy and also sad at the same time. He was very happy because he was informed that he got selected in the interview he attended earlier and should join duty at their Delhi office. He was sad for the reason that, at that point of time there was no body at home with whom he could share the sweet news. His friends were not in town and his parents, particularly his mother had gone to temple. Only his grandfather was there. Grandfather was actually not his original grandfather, but that original grandfather’s youngest brother—hi...

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“GOLDEN BANGLE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #61

Raghuram was waiting at the lounge of Hotel Solitaire, a famous five-star hotel in the city. He was waiting for his colleagues to assemble there for Brunch. It was an official meeting and was generally being conducted there every quarter. While a few had already turned up, some more were yet to join. He was very particular about punctuality. Unfortunately, others took it casually. Even if it were to be a get together just for eating, it was an official meeting. His assistant Subhash generally used to handle such meeting and eating. But he ha...

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“ORIGINAL AND NOT SECOND SERVING” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #60

Kalidas was sitting in front of the Dean of the hospital. He had recently admitted a pregnant lady in a very critical condition. She was one of the victims he saved from the ravaged gushing floods, coupled with chopping winds and heavy downpour. It was a tremendous job for him to wade through racing currents and whirlpools. He had virtually lifted and packed her on his back with her back on his back, so that her baby-bump was not suppressed. A miraculous escape for both, from the very mouth of death! How they survived God only knows! That wa...

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“I LOVE THIS VILLAGE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #59

Suryakant was under orders of transfer and would be leaving the village shortly. People were not happy that the present bank manager was leaving them. They were very apprehensive about the incoming officer. They were quite pleased with the existing manager, his style of functioning, easy access to him, eagerness in redressal of grievances, customer-care relationship etc. He was alone here as his wife and son were at America. Put up in a small village, there was not much of social life for him. The manager willingly dedicated all his time for...

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“NIRMALA” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #58

“Not your father. You are Yamadoot. You are Yamakinkara.” Arjun’s words were ringing in her ears. He considered the two characters as highly negative and he referred to her nature also highly negative. Earlier she had told him that her father was an LIC agent and people avoided considering as Yamadoot, Yamakinkara. Arjun might say anything. Who cared? Nirmala was seriously jotting down points into a separate folder created for the purpose in her laptop. A lot of copy-paste exercise. Arjun came to her cubicle and sat by her side. She immedi...

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“PESTERING NUISANCE” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #57

Neelakantan asked his son Mohan to get him an apple and one orange. Mohan went to the kitchen to ask his wife. He knew it might not be there. Still, if one was there, that would suffice for the day. She made a wry face and told him bluntly. “How do you expect fruits now? You know very well all the fruits brought yesterday and the day before had gone into the fruit salad. You yourself found them insufficient. Was it not so? You always invite such great foodies for parties! Was anything left behind for you or me? Now, you are asking apple–ora...

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“CARROT HALWA” by SHYAMALA BHUVANACHANDRAN

Submitted to Contest #56

Savita was in no mood of listening to her mother’s sermons. Daily her mother keeps telling her daughter to devote some time for lending a hand in her kitchen chores. Savita was not against learning cookery or attending to kitchen chores. Her grouse was why only the women had to do this. As though they were cut for the job. The society had to change. After all, cookery by itself was not a bad option. ‘Why men do not enter this area’ was something intriguing her mind. Her father, uncle, nobody did any kitchen work. When Savita’s mother called...

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